Craig Sword and Mississippi State will try to end its 13-game losing streak tonight when the Bulldogs play Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament. Keith Warren/Special to The Clarion-Ledger

Written by

Michael Bonner
mbonner@jackson.gannett.com

Craig Sword's eyes watered as he stared at the South Carolina box score. Fred Thomas sat to his right discussing Mississippi State's 13th consecutive loss to end the regular season last weekend. The Bulldogs have not won in more than 45 days.

This one felt worse.

"We were in it, man. We were close. The whole year, we'll lose by a big margin," Sword said. "We were in a tight game. It hurt me the most. We know we could have won that game." ...